Irish Volleyballers to make history!

An Irish Volleyball team will compete in the European Championships for the first time. In January 2019, a 12-strong U16 women’s squad will head to the Faroe Islands to compete against Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and the hosts for a place in the Final Round of the European Championship for this age group. This is the first time in history an Irish youth team has entered a European event – and is testament to the strides Volleyball Ireland are making in youth development.

The National Squad programme was the brainchild of coaches Gianni Massa and Jenny King – a former Irish international herself – who setup the programme three years ago to develop the next generation of international players.

King said, “There’s a great history of Volleyball in Ireland, and there is lots of activity happening in schools. This programme was a way of developing and inspiring the girls to keep playing, training and leading an active healthy lifestyle. It’s a great opportunity for the girls to live everyone’s dream and play for their country.”

The team have been training in all corners of Ireland with full day training camps on a regular basis. Some of the group are also off to Sardinia to hone their technical skills in the hometown of Head Coach Massa, alongside world-class Italian Volleyball coaches and players.

One barrier to international competition is the cost of competing – participation in the Championships is expected to cost in the region of €20,000, with parents and players fundraising within their local areas. The group have even setup a Crowdfunding page with Irish company PledgeSports – this allows anyone to make a donation to offset the costs of flights, accommodation and training equipment.

https://www.pledgesports.org/projects/get-our-girls-to-faroe/

There are a range of partnership opportunities for business to become involved in sponsoring the team including a Main Team Sponsorship package and Team Partners. Click here for further details.

For more information on sponsorship packages please contact Gary Stewart, General Manager of Volleyball Ireland at gm@volleyballireland.com.